


Joined Hands (The Rebound Remix)

by navaan



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Ultimates
Genre: Assumed Relationship, F/M, Getting Together, M/M, Misunderstandings, POV Female Character, Past Relationship(s), Remix, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-26 07:50:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12054543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: When Steve walked past Tony their shoulders brushed lightly and Janet, who hadn't been paying attention until now, suddenly looked closer.





	Joined Hands (The Rebound Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [snowynight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowynight/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Join Your Hand](https://archiveofourown.org/works/314860) by [snowynight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowynight/pseuds/snowynight). 



When Steve walked past Tony their shoulders brushed lightly and Janet, who hadn't been paying attention until now, suddenly looked closer. 

In the last few weeks Steve had been distant, keeping away from her. It was to be expected after a break-up, but this had been different. Steve had pulled away from her and the Ultimates at the same time.

This was the first she was seeing of him here with the rest of them at Tony's posh condo that had recently become the team's unofficial meeting place.

And so far, Tony had been the only one he talked to.

And Tony, who'd downed one martini after another in the wake of his own recent "break-up" had no drink in hand for once, but was laughing at whatever Steve had just said to him. It seemed significant and she couldn't tell why.

Tony's expression was flirty.

Which wasn't new.

Tony flirted with everyone; even after his ill fated engagement to a psychotic traitor who had stabbed them all in the back and killed Tony's eccentric butler Jarvis, he had not stopped flirting with every pretty face that crossed his path - Steve included. Steve had always been included in the flirting to some extend, Jan realized. But it hadn't really stood out when his flirting had also been for her and Thor and everyone.

Now it stood out. Tony's attention was all on Steve in a way it was usually not on someone else.

But who was Jan to judge?

 _She_ had flirted and then more than flirted with Steve.

He _was_ Captain America after all and a sweet, protective guy who just needed some love. Some old fashioned love.

She frowned.

Steve had sulked and kept away. Tony had superheroed hard and partied even harder, but when had the billionaire laughed - really laughed - recently?

Jan had to admit she couldn't remember. But that, too, was Tony. He was both deceptively open and hard to read. All of them had learned by now that his eccentric behavior was as much a mask as the Iron Man armors' heavy face plates , but nobody could figure out where the sad, depressed drunk bled into the brilliant engineer or the the crazy daredevil who kept moving all the time. Somewhere in between all these part had to be the real Stark.

What mattered was that now Steve was smiling, Tony was laughing and although nothing about that taken on its own was out of the usual, it seemed to stand out. For all their differences Steve and Tony got along just fine. But Jan had learned enough about Steve to not miss the moment when his expression softened with the smile, and, surprised, her eyes snapped to Tony, whose own look had become intense in the way that it usually got when he was talking about his own inventions.

Oh.

How could she have missed that?

Had she been so busy sorting out her own feelings after the break-up, after growing closer again with Hank, that she had missed it?

She looked around the room for someone to ask, but Thor had been keeping away, Clint dealt with his grief and anger by being all business and the twins... She looked up to meet Pietro's eyes. He had his arm around his sister's shoulder in a less than fraternal fashion and they were lounging on the sofa looking more like a couple than anyone in the room. 

As Jan and the twins were the only ones sitting on the vast sofa, it seemed like a good idea to get up and run.

"I think I'll get a drink," she mumbled and made to stand, when Wanda said under her breath: "They've been like that for a while."

"Oh?"

"Since the dinosaur came over to check on Tony after the recent coverage of the death of his dear fiance," Pietro provided with a mocking grin that bordered on derision. 

Jan never knew what to think of either of the Maximoffs. They did their job, but they left no doubt that nobody had a place in their little world.

"There were rumors about the state Tony was in." Wanda shrugged as if that meant nothing.

With Tony, you could never be sure.

Aware that the twins were staring at her like she was meant to throw a tantrum or have questions, she finally stood up and nodded. "Good," she said. "Sulky men should never be left alone." 

And she deliberately grinned over at Steve and waved at him, for once amused by his sudden frown. She winked, before she walked out of the room to get something to drink. Tony had fired his newest "Jarvis" this morning and not yet found a replacement and she was happy for the excuse to leave and gather her thoughts.

* * *

After that, she paid attention.

It was easy enough to miss all the signs, if you didn't look for them. But when you _were_ looking, there was no way to not notice the way both men gravitated towards each other, how their eyes lit up when the other entered the room, how they immediately _noticed_ each other so perfectly. 

They had lunch together and Tony, who usually weaseled out of eating more than a few bites by munching a martini soaked olive and smiling all their strange looks away, steals french fries from Steve's plate and eats his club sandwich under Steve's watchful gaze. 

Seeing that open display of caring and affection directed at Tony washed away the last shred of doubts that had lingered in her mind. 

Steve and Tony were together.

Steve, her ex-boyfriend, old fashioned Captain America, was together with _Tony Stark_ , who lived fast and in the future. It seemed like a bad match, but it seemed to make them happy.

"How much more obvious could they be?" she asked Wanda under here breath when they ended up watching the two men together at the table.

"Don't look under the table," the scarlet witch advised. "I'm sure they're playing footsie. Or on second thought, do."

She resisted the urge to check.

* * *

Tony Stark rarely deprived himself of the constant buzz provided by his favorite drinks. But today he came from a board meeting, put together and sober.

He looked nervous and a bit pale.

"Headache?" she asked, making a wild guess.

Tony shook his head. "Nothing that severe. Just tired."

"Tired? Want to stay in?" Steve had appeared in the doorway. "I can call Gail and Bucky and tell them we're not coming?"

"No, no, it's fine," Tony said waving his hand. "Take me out."

"Oh," Jan said. She'd forgotten that Wednesdays were the days Steve reserved for his old friends - his oldest friends. She had liked the old couple, but she had also longed to see other people, longed to do something _young_ people did. Thinking of Tony in that setting gave her some trouble and it must have shown on her face.

Was Tony nervous because Steve was taking him to see his only real family?

"It's okay," she said to him and smiled, "they are much more open minded than you'd think."

Tony's eyes widened then an eyebrow wandered up into his hair line. "So that means they won't have trouble meeting an alcoholic billionaire?"

"You'll do fine," Janet said and patted him on the shoulder. Steve was staring after her along with Tony, as she walked out of the room.

"What was that all about?" Tony asked, his voice trailing after her.

"She might think the old timers will out-dance you," Steve deadpanned.

"No chance, Cap."

They left after that.

She watched television in the living room area until they returned, bickering and flushed.

It looked like everything had gone well.

* * *

"You can be open about it," she told Steve, when she found him reading a paper - actually made of paper - in the kitchen.

"It?"

"Tony."

"Tony?"

"You and Tony?"

"There are no secrets about me and Tony," Steve said calmly, but he was frowning.

"I know," she said. "Everyone knows."

"Okay," Steve said, but watched her carefully, like he was looking for a clue.

"I'm glad you're happy. I won't lie, I was surprised." 

"Happy?"

"Yes," Jan said, "he does make you happy, doesn't he?"

Steve looked confused. "Jan what are you...?"

"You don't have to..." Only then did she realize that Steve was staring at her with real confusion.

She couldn't have been wrong?

Of all people it had to be Tony who walked in. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," she said quickly and fled.

"Still pining for the married woman?" Tony asked behind her and she wanted to be swallowed by the floor.

* * *

This time it was her who stayed away, until she got over her trepidation and embarrassment. When she returned, Steve nodded at her but didn't say a word.

He and Tony were still acting like a married couple.

Nothing had changed, she thought.

But they weren't in love.

* * *

Steve made pancakes for breakfast with the help of the new Jarvis. Tony stumbled in when the rest of them were finished and already stumbling out, looking like he'd barely gotten any sleep.

When he got to his plate he found an envelope beneath it, his name written on it with careful, precise handwriting.

"Is that a letter?" Jan asked surprised.

But Tony looked equally surprised.

Steve didn't even bother to turn around.

"I didn't know people even still wrote letters," Clint mumbled, before walking out.

"Neither did I," admitted Tony, but pocketed it without opening it.

"You won't read it?" Jan's curiosity had been piqued. 

"Later. All men deserve their secrets, darling," Tony said and downed a cup of coffee as he would his martini.

* * *

For several days, they were just gone. They didn't pick up their phones and didn't tell anyone where they'd been going. Without SHIELD there were no check-ins to miss, no slated Ultimates meetings or training sessions. But Jan got worried anyway, tried to call Thor, tried to hear what the twins had to say or what Betty knew.

Then suddenly the elevator doors opened and both men walked back into their quarters like nothing had happened.

Seeing the duffel slung over Steve's back, she asked: "Where've you been? I thought you'd been kidnapped by aliens!"

"Paris," Steve said very shortly. 

Tony smiled and walked right to the bar, pouring himself and then downing a scotch. There was a telling dark blotch showing above his collar. Jan remembered all too well that Steve loved leaving marks.

She blushed.

When she looked over, Steve looked sheepish.

"Not for a mission, I take it?"

"Oh," Tony said lightly. "He made me work for it."

Flustered, but with a hint of warning Steve said: "Tony!"

Tony smiled and winked at her.

"Finally," she told Steve. "Now I'm not just happy for the two of you, I'm also proud of you, old guy."

Tony laughed, and while Steve tried to keep his stern expression in place, his eyes were smiling.


End file.
